Sinkhole bill leaves board angered

Easton Area directors say they weren't told of $5.7 million increase.

October 29, 2002|By Madeleine Mathias Of The Morning Call

The Easton Area School Board did not mince words Monday night when it repeatedly asked why it was never told it would cost an additional $5.7 million to fix 16 sinkholes on the athletic complex being built on the 32-acre Kunkel tract.

The board rejected a change order from Muschlitz Excavating Co. of Bath for the sinkhole remediation work. Muschlitz was given a $5 million contract in April 2001 to prepare the tract for seven fields and an environmental pond area.

Although the meeting was still going on at 11 p.m., after about two hours of discussion the board agreed to hire an independent consultant to review the project, including the cost of the sinkholes and how the project was managed.

For most of the meeting, representatives of ARM Group Inc. of Hershey, hired by the board to be its construction observer; the Ray Group of Lancaster, the architects; and Derck and Edson of Lititz, the landscape engineers, defended their positions.

But they were blasted by an angry board of directors.

Director Alfred Capecci provided Northampton County maps to the representatives and board members, pointing out that sinkhole areas are clearly marked.

He said that he thought "a light would have gone on" when the massive sinkholes appeared this year so that the contractors and others involved in the tract would have notified the board of potential enormous costs.

A representative of the ARM Group said no official meetings were called, but information was passed through correspondence.

Although through most of the meeting the representatives avoided saying to whom other reports were given, they did say a letter was sent Sept. 15 to Superintendent Thomas Evans, citing the problem.

Still, the $5.7 million figure never surfaced until another representative of that group said they had conversations with Jeffrey Bader, the district's business manager.

Board President Richard Siegfried said the board just received copies of the correspondence in the past few days.

Director Kenneth Brown said that when the district was thinking of buying the tract, Palmer Township said what the district wanted to do with it would be no problem. Brown said at one time a mall was supposed to be built there, but was not.

Director Brook Betts, as well as Siegfried, Capecci, Brown and George Bright, wanted to know why the sinkhole problem was not brought to the board's attention.

"Was an administrator made aware and if so, who was it?" asked Betts. "And was it in writing?

"It is a pretty sad affair that this board, who must pay the bills, was never notified of the problem," Betts said.

The representative from the Ray Group said reports were given to Evans, to Timothy Case, the district's maintenance supervisor, and to Bader.

He said that his group, when it learned of the cost, negotiated with Muschlitz to bring the cost from $150 a cubic yard to $115 a cubic yard to fill the sinkholes.